Abstract
Bus operator’s workstations neglecting ergonomic features can cause overall discomfort and injuries to the users. This paper presents use of JACK®, a human work simulation package, in designing and evaluating a bus operator workstation which can provide sufficient visibility, natural reach, and comfortable posture for operators who range from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male as defined by SAE J833 (SAE, 1994). Three human models representing the two extremes and their medium size person were created and performed 15 bus operating tasks on the bus workstation implemented in JACK®. Kinematic constraints were defined between the human models and the workstation to simulate the tasks in a realistic manner. While the human models simulated the tasks, the body joints were monitored to determine if they exceeded their comfort ranges recommended by Diffrient et al. (1981) and the workstation was evaluated in terms of visibility, reach, comfort, and adjustability. After the workstation design was refined by iterative modifications and the required component adjustment ranges were determined, the workstation design was prototyped into an actual working bus. A jury of bus operators evaluated the workstation design by operating the prototype on a test track. The response from the operators indicated that the workstation would accommodate the intended population.
Computer simulation of processes of changing the reliability characteristics of systems with recoverable and non-recoverable elements based on the Simulink Dynamic Simulation Package